Electric flash-light



I LE.

ELECTRIC'FLASH LIGHT.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 1|, 1918.

' Patented Mar. 16,1920.

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6 w 3 o .7 I W0 0 4 I 8 8 E m I m STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM inn, or NEW YORK, 11. Y.

ELECTRIC FLASH-LIGHT.

To all whom itmag concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM Its, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and a resident of the borough totManhattan, in the city, county, and State of New .York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Electric Flash-Lights, of which the, following is a specification; 1

- Thisinve'ntion relates to what are commonly termed as .electric flashlights, and relates particularly to a switch therefor to place the terminals of a. galvanic battery carriedby the casing. of the device into and out of el'ectrical communication andcause a lamp in circuit with one of the battery terminals to be turned on or ofi.

In flash lights of this character, and adapted to be carriedin the pocket of the apparel of the user, a switch in the form of a contact carried by a fingerpiece or button slidably mounted to be exterior of the casing is operable to place the terminals of the battery into electrical communication and thereby cause a lamp to be turned on by moving the switch in one direction a; predetermined distance, and the battery terminals are placed out of electrical communication and thereby the light turned oil by moving the switch in the opposite direction. However, as there are no means to retain the switch in its adjusted position as the light is placed in the pocket, for instance, the switch is liable to be moved. with the result that the terminals of the battery areplaced. into electrical communication with the consequent deterioration of the'batten It is the object oi the present inventionto overcome the above disadvantage and to rovide means to lock or retain the switch in either of its adjusted positions, and which means are'releasable by a predetermined force applied to the switch manipulating finger piece or button. 7

a In the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is an elevational view ofan electric flash light with an embodiment of my invention applied thereto. 7

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the switch looking at the bottom;

Fig; 3 is a sectional view taken substantiallyon the-'1ine 3 -3 of Fig 2" looking in the direction afithe arrows.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 16, 1920.

Applicationfiled October 11,1918. Serial No. 257,683.

' Figs. 4 and6 are detail views of parts of the switch; .and

also operating in the usual manner to clamp a reflector in position to said end of the casing, and said reflector carrying a lamp arranged to contact with one pole of abattery carried by the casing, but as this does not constitute an essential feature of the invention and is well understood in the art it is not deemed necessary to illustrate the I same. The opposite end of the casing has a metallic closure 11 removably mountedon a metallic support 12 secured to the end of thecasi'ng and arranged to be placed in electrical communication with the other pole or terminal of the battery. Leading from the electrical communication to complete the circuit a switch is provided, comprising a plate 18secured to the casing as by screws 19, 20 and 21 passing through perforations 22-, 23 and 24 in the plate. The screws l9.

:20 are threaded into clamping members.

(not shown) on the inner side of the casing, and the screw 21 being threaded into the bushing 16 and thereby placing the .platein electrical communication with the battery terminal13. The plate is formed with an elongated. recess 25 to form abridge piece and hasa slot 26 extending longiturlinally thereof.

have sliding movement upon the outer surface of the bridge piece 25.

To slidablysecure the slide to the bridge piece projections 30 stamped from the plate 27 pass through the slot in the bridge piece and have secured thereon below the bridge piece to be confined between the bridge piece and wall of'the casing and a plate 31 fixed to the plate projections'30 with said plate spaced from the inner wall of the bridge piece as shown in Fig. 3.- This plate 31 has a nib 32 bent laterally therefrom at one end to constitute'a contact adapted to be placed into and out of contact with the eyelet contact 15 and thereby with the battery terminal 14. It will be obvious thatwhen the slide is moved to position shown in full lines in Fig. 3 the contact 32 will engage with the eyelet contact 15 thereby placing the battery terminals 14, 13 into electrical communication, and as the slide or button 28 is moved to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3 and in "full lines in Fig. "1

that the contact 32 will be moved out of engagement with the eyelet contact 15 and with the battery terminals out'ot electrical conunu'nication.

To lock or retain the slide in position with the contact 32 in or out of contact with the eyelet contact 15 there is provided a member 33 of resilient material, such as spring wire,

bent to substantially the form shown in Fig.7

5. This member 33 is adapted to engage in the bridge piece or recess in the plate 18 and retained therein by the lateral edges of the contact plate 31, as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

As this locking member is placed in the plate recess the end 3 1 engaging with one longitu dinal wall of the recess will tend to yieldingly urge the elongated portion 35 toward the opposite longitudinal wall of the recess. The opposite end portion of the locking member is bent inwardly and formed near the extremity with a jog 36. This jog is so arranged that when the contact plate 31 is in position with the contact nib in contact with the eyelet contact 15 of the battery terminal 14 it will extend between the plate projections 30, thereby operating in the mannerof a detent to hold said contact plate 31 against movement. The tension of the look ing member is predetermined whereby as a I predetermined force is applied to the'finger piece 28 to move it, as for instance upward as viewed from Figs. 2 and3, the lower pro- ]ect1 Il 0 W111 ride up one portion of the contact nib 32 out of contact with the eyelet contact 15. To again place the contact nib 32 in contact a predetermined force is applied to the finger piece of the slide in the opposite direction to that above described, or downward as viewed from Figs. 2 and 3. Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In electric flash lights, the combination with a battery carrying casing having contacts of the battery terminals secured therein',-of a bridge piece mounted on the casing in electrical communication with one battery terminal contact; a slide having a finger piece mounted on said bridge piece with a part to project'through asloti-n the bridge; a contact supported belowthe bridge by the part of the slide projecting through the bridge slot and adapted to be placed into and out of electrical communication with the other battery terminal contact by the movement of the slide; and a yielding locking member carried by the bridge to engage between the slide and contact carried thereby and adapted to'coopera'te with the contact slide to maintain the slidewith the contact in or out of contact with the latter battery terminal. contact, and releasable by a predetermined force applied to the finger piece of the slide.

2. In electric flash lights, the combination with a battery carrying casing having conto engage withcthe other battery terminal contact and adapted to be moved into and out ot contact therewith by the movement of the slide; and a member carried by I the bridge'piece having a yielding detent to cooperate with the slide to releasably retain it in position with the slidecontact inor out of contact with the one battery terminal contact and releasable by a predetermined force appliedto the slide.

3. A switch to place the terminals of an electric circuit into and out of circuit, comprlsmg a bridge incircuit W-lllh' a terminal of the clrcuit; a contact slldably mounted upon )risin a brid e in circuit with a terminal of the circuit; a shell carrying a plate having projections to engage a slot in the bridge to slidably mount the shell upon the bridge; a contact plate secured upon the projections of the shell plate below the bridge piece and adapted to be moved into and out of contact with the other terminal contact of the circuit by the movement of the shell; and a spring detent carried by the bridge piece between the shell plate and contactplate and having a part arranged to cooperate With the shell plate projections to releasably lock said shell in position with the contact plate either in or out of contact with the one terminal contact of the circuit.

' WILLIAM ILE. 

